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lexicon in
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For other uses, see
Lexicon (disambiguation).
Lexicon (Greek:
λεξικόν) has two meanings. A lexicon can be a list of words
together with additional word-specific information, i.e., a
dictionary. In
linguistics, the term more commonly refers to a language's
inventory of
lexemes, i.e. its
vocabulary.
In the dictionary sense, the term is also sometimes used in
the title of an
encyclopedic dictionary or an
encyclopedia, especially for
19th century works and those written in German (lexikon).
In the linguistic sense, the lexicon includes the
lexemes used to actualize words. Lexemes are formed
according to
morpho-syntactic rules and express
sememes. In this sense, a lexicon organizes the
mental
vocabulary in a speaker's mind: First, it organizes the
vocabulary of a language according to certain principles (for
instance, all verbs of motion may be linked in a lexical
network) and second, it contains a generative device producing
(new) simple and complex words according to certain lexical
rules. For example, the
suffix '-able' can be added to
transitive verbs only such that we get 'read-able' but not
'*cry-able'.
When linguists study the lexicon, they study such things as
what words are, how the vocabulary in a language is structured,
how people use and store words, how they learn words, the
history and evolution of words (i.e.
etymology), types of relationships between words as well as
how words were created.
Furthermore an individual's lexical knowledge (or
lexical concept) is that person's knowledge of
vocabulary.
See also
-
Glossary
-
Lexeme
-
Lexical word
-
Morphology (linguistics)
Further reading
-
Aitchison, Jean. Words in the Mind: An Introduction
to the Mental Lexicon. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2003.
External links
-
Lexicon of Linguistics
-
Users lexicon - create your custom lexicons
Categories:
Lexis |
Linguistics
